Forty-seven countries have yet to lift their travel advisories against traveling to Taiwan despite the World Health Organization's (WHO) decision on Tuesday to lift its warning against travel to Taiwan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
In its updated list of SARS-related travel restrictions against Taiwan's passport holders, the ministry said 13 countries are still advising their nationals not to travel to Taiwan.
Another 13 countries suggested that their nationals defer any trips to Taiwan, while 21 states are advising their nationals to postpone non-essential trips, the ministry said.
The UK is among the very few countries to lift its travel warning against Taiwan in light of the WHO's decision on Tuesday.
Japan has dropped a similar warning, while cautioning its nationals to pay attention while traveling in Taiwan, the ministry said.
Canada has downgraded its advisory to a lighter one, by advising Canadian citizens to defer non-essential trips, the ministry said.
Although 34 countries have maintained various entry restrictions on Taiwanese nationals, the Vietnam Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei has resumed the issuance of visas since June 11 to Taiwan passport holders intending to make business and official trips to the country, the ministry said.
The Jordanian Commercial Office in Taipei has resumed the issuance of visas since mid-May although it has still suspended the issuance of work permits, the ministry said.
Nationals intending to visit Palau should note that the country has maintained its ban on travelers who have visited SARS-affected areas during the past 14 days, the ministry said.
Malaysia requires work-permit holders and student-visa holders from Taiwan to go into quarantine, while requesting visa applicants to present SARS-free health certificates when applying for a visa, the ministry said.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
RSS